§2. There are certain kinds of property which are exempt from taxation; such as the corporate property of the state, of counties, and of towns, including the buildings in which the public business is done, the prisons, jails, asylums, &c., and the lands attached to them; school-houses and meeting-houses, with the lands attached; burying-grounds, and the property of literary and charitable institutions. But the property of business corporations, as rail-road, banking, insurance, manufacturing, and other stock companies, like that of individuals, is liable to taxation. _Real estate_, or _real property_, is land with the buildings and other articles erected or growing thereon. _Personal estate_, or _personal property_, consists of movables, as goods, chattels, money, and debts due from solvent debtors.
§3. As the property of every person is to be assessed in proportion to its value, it is necessary, first, to make a correct valuation of all the taxable property. For this purpose, the assessor or assessors pass through the town, and make a list of the names of all the taxable inhabitants, and the estimated value of the property, real and personal, of each; and returns of the same are made to the proper county officers, who cause the tax-list for each town to be made out, and order the taxes to be collected.
§4. In some states, persons liable to taxation are themselves required to furnish lists of all their taxable property, printed blank lists having been previously distributed among them for this purpose. To secure an accurate valuation, the assessors, (called also _listers_,) may require persons to make oath that they have made a true statement of their property and its value. In states where the polls of the tax-payers are assessed, these also are set down in the lists at such sums as the law directs to be affixed to each poll.
§5. Before a tax-list can be made out, it must be known what amount is to be collected in each town. This amount is made up of three parts: First, the sum wanted to pay the expenses of the town for the preceding year; secondly, the town's share of the county expenses; and thirdly, its proportional share of the expenses of the state government, or of what is to be raised for state purposes.
